Wallace E. Sorensen

Wallace Edward Sorensen, 87, of Lawton passed away Tuesday, July 26, 2016 in Sioux City, Iowa.
Services will be 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at Morningside Lutheran Church in Sioux City, with the Rev. Paul Andell officiating. Burial will be in Banner Township Cemetery in Lawton. Visitation will be 5 to 8 p.m. Monday, with the family present 6 to 8 p.m. and a prayer service at 7 p.m. at Morningside Chapel, Christy-Smith Funeral Home in Sioux City. Condolences may be sent online to www.christysmith.com .
Wallace Edward Sorensen was born February 12, 1929, in Sioux City, Iowa to Julius and Helen (Tiarks) Sorensen. He spent his youth and most of his adult years on the family farm east of Lawton. He graduated from Lawton High School in 1947 and was president of his graduating class.
Following high school he began general studies at Wayne State College in Nebraska. Wallace then attended Iowa State University majoring in agriculture.
There he and his brother, Everett, became members of Phi Gamma Delta (Fiji) Fraternity and were involved with VEISHEA activities. With the outbreak of the Korean War, he was unable to finish college and enlisted in the Army Signal Corps in February of 1951.
He began Officer’s Candidate School in June of 1952 and graduated December 1952 at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. From there he went to Primary Army Flight School in San Marcos, Texas in June of 1953. He graduated February 1954 from Advanced Flight School at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma. His final assignment was with 232nd Signal Support Group in Ft. Huachuca, AZ with temporary duty with the atomic testing in Camp Desert Rock, Nevada. He separated active duty June 1955. In September 1955, he joined the 314th Artillery Battalion Army Reserve in Sioux City, Iowa. He retired as a Major in 1978 with 26 years of service.
He married Dorothy Ann Halweg on Easter Sunday, April 1, 1956, in Craig, Iowa. (He and Dorothy always thought it was very funny they were married on April Fools’ Day.) Their union was blessed with three children. After the war, Wallace worked for the Lawton Telephone Company while helping his father run the family farm. In 1965, he took over the farming operation and spent many years planting corn, soybeans and raising cattle and hogs. He enjoyed all of his children’s sporting events and 4-H activities and was especially proud of his grandchildren and new great-grandson. Wallace was a Dekalb Seed Corn dealer, a member of the Banner Township Board of Trustees, a member of the Plymouth Co-op Oil Board, Beef Superintendent at the Woodbury County Fair, a member of the Lawton Flying Club, and a longtime member of Morningside Lutheran Church.
Wallace married Beverly (Westerman-Fosnot) on February 12, 2013 in Mesa, Arizona. Wallace and Dorothy and later Wallace and Beverly enjoyed traveling near and far, golfing, and dancing. They will always remember the tons of fun, the loads of laughs, and miles and miles of spins on the dance floor.
He is survived by his wife, Beverly of Lawton; three children, Mark Sorensen of Wayne, Nebraska, Bruce Sorensen and his wife Shelly, of Lawton and Julie and her husband, Brad Skaar of Story City, Iowa; and one brother Everett, and his wife, Gayle of Chattanooga, Tennessee. He leaves behind five grandchildren, Garrett Skaar, and his wife Denae, Ryan and Samuel Skaar, Robert and Katie Sorensen, and one great-grandson, Levi Michael Skaar and a host of cousins, nieces and nephews.
Wallace was preceded in death by his parents and his first wife, Dorothy.
A memorial fund has been established in his name.